The Geese That Saved Rome: Unlikely Traditions Through History

In the portion of Acharei Mot, the Torah warns the Israelites against slaughtering meat in the open field and "making sacrifices to goat demons." This implies a propensity among the Israelites to sin in this way, by offering sacrifices to spirits in the fields. How do such peculiar ideas develop?<\/p>

It turns out these traditions stem from misunderstandings of reality and nature. In ancient Rome, geese were revered like gods. Why? Due to a noteworthy event. In 390 BCE, the Roman historian Livy recorded an incident where geese saved Rome from a Gallic army invasion during the Battle of the Allia. The Gallic forces tried to capture the Capitoline Hill by sneaking through the Temple of Juno under the cloak of night. Their invasion was averted when the geese raised an alarm, awakening the sleeping Romans, who then drove back the intruders.<\/p>

So, are geese secret deities? Not at all; every creature has instincts endowed by the Creator, which we can harness beneficially. Today, geese are used for prison patrols. For instance, at the Sao Pedro de Alcantara prison in Brazil, geese patrol alongside guards... guard geese. They spend part of their time enjoying a pool at their prison site, and the rest of the time they roam the green space between the inner fence and the main outer wall, ready to make a huge racket if a prisoner escapes. The alertness of geese makes them excellent guards, even more so than dogs. They are naturally territorial, extremely loud, and will cause a tremendous commotion if an unfamiliar entity enters their space. Their vision is excellent—sharper than humans—and so is their hearing. Geese are also less expensive to maintain than guard dogs.<\/p>

Residents of Mendes in Egypt, at the time when the Israelites were there, worshipped the god "Pan," depicted as a shaggy goat. The Greeks borrowed this idea from the Egyptians and constructed a shrine to the god Pan in a cave in northern Israel. The place was named Panias, later turned to Banias in Arabic. The cave remains today. It is speculated that a massive goat lived in the cave, gaining the admiration of idolaters who would sacrifice small animals for its delight. They were particularly impressed by its huge horns and intimidated by its thunderous voice and immense power, thus mistaking a brainless animal for a god...<\/p>